Microsoft Floors the Pedal For Sales Force

For years, marketing teams have been rallying their troops behind the
all-important sales proposal process, which has relied heavily on Microsoft
Office tools like Word and PowerPoint for the creation of those pitches. But
with the new release of the Office 2003 System, Microsoft is trying to alter
the workflow landscape and bring in new tools that will help re-engineer the
process.

The latest tool, Microsoft Office Solutions Accelerator for Proposals, is
to be unveiled on Monday. With it, the Redmond, Wash., giant hopes
sales professionals will begin to embrace the concept of online
collaboration — a central theme behind the new Office 2003 System. In doing
so, Microsoft is hoping to help its customers increase their “win” rate on
those sales pitches.

And with 9 out of 10 sales and marketing proposals already done in Word,
Microsoft had a pretty easy decision as to which Office component to focus
its Accelerator. Using a combination of code, components, templates and
architectural guidance, customers of Microsoft Office Professional Edition
can create and manage fully customizable solutions for all of the other
suite’s components through InfoPath — the XML-based module used to define
Web services schemas.

“It doesn’t change the process; it just makes it more effective,”
explained Ingo Friedrichowitz, sales solution planning manager at Microsoft.
“The real differentiator is now all of these functions are done from within
Word.”

As with its other Office Solutions Accelerators like the HR/Recruiting package and the Excel-based XBRL
package just released last week, Microsoft is trying get sales and marketing
teams to bring more of their everyday duties into the digital realm from
brainstorming sessions to the final presentations.

The Sales/Proposal Accelerator solution makes use of two major
components: the collaborative SharePoint platform and the task pane used to
search and manage the content library. As a result, the new package will
help sales professionals fully automate proposal development; collaborate on
and manage one or more proposals from start to finish; and update a shared
corporate knowledge base. For example, proposal writers can easily ascertain
the most current legal and product information.

Early adopters of the technology have experienced productivity
gains of 20 to 50 percent, Friedrichowitz told internetnews.com.
Early customers include Activiti, Ernst Young Technologies, Geniant,
Immedient, K2IS, Shipley Associates and Statera. Microsoft also relied on
five strategic partners in particular to develop the solution: Pragmatech
Software, Quilogy, Sant Corporation, Wipro Technologies and Xerox Global
Services.

Office Solution Accelerator for Proposals is available mainly for
customers who have licensed Office System 2003 under Microsoft’s Software
Assurance program. However, customers who want to try it can also do so
under a test/developer license.